Trooper kills suspect

ORANGE 
A 23-year-old man suspected of selling oxycodone and Percocet was fatally gunned down by state police Wednesday morning as they attempted to search his Mechanic Street apartment.

The man — whom state police have not identified — was one of two people in the second-floor apartment at 18 Mechanic St. who were suspected of selling drugs.

The man allegedly confronted members of the Massachusetts State Police Special Tactical Operations Team with a gun as they attempted to enter the apartment around 5 a.m.

A 25-year-old woman, who also lived in the apartment and is under investigation, suffered an eye injury in the incident and was being treated at a local hospital.

The preliminary investigation indicates that the troopers entered the apartment around 5 a.m. and the man confronted them with a firearm, prompting a trooper or troopers to fire their service weapons, according to David Procopio, state police spokesman.

“The State Police Detective Unit had intelligence that the male suspect had access to, and may use, firearms,” according to a statement from the state police. “As a result of that intelligence, the STOP Team was utilized for the entry.”

The man was given medical aid at the scene and was transported to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

The STOP Team was executing a search warrant in conjunction with a drug investigation being conducted by the State Police Detective Unit for Hampshire and Franklin counties.

Investigators also found a second firearm inside the room where the suspect confronted the troopers, according to state police.

The apartment is being investigated as a crime scene, and the investigation into the shooting is being conducted by the state police and the Northwestern district attorney’s office. The district attorney will review the use of deadly force to determine if it was justified under law, according to state police.

No further information was available Wednesday.

The fatal shooting was the second by an area state trooper in just under a year.

A state trooper shot and killed Victor Davila, 43, who was driving a stolen car on Irving Street near Chandler Street in Worcester on July 12.

Mr. Procopio said then that the shooting occurred about 12:10 a.m. when the trooper, whom officials have not identified by name, tried to stop the gray 1997 Honda Accord after running the license plate and learning that a Leicester man had reported it stolen.

The trooper was in front of the car, and yelled repeatedly for it to stop, when he fired a single shot through the windshield, Mr. Procopio said.

Periodic requests to the district attorney’s officer for release of the investigation results have been unsuccessful. The request was renewed by email late Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday’s shooting came a day after Ashland police shot and killed a 27-year-old man they say refused to surrender and confronted them with a shotgun in a home on Metropolitan Avenue.

Police had gone to the home at 13 Metropolitan Ave. to arrest Andrew Stigliano on an outstanding warrant, Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office told The Boston Globe.